Product leadership and technology consulting for financial mobile app
Guideline, Inc.
The need
Requiring outside consultation to propel them forward, Guideline, a provider of modern 401k solutions, partnered with Icosa Studios for product leadership, consultation, and staff augmentation to guide the successful launch of their new 401k management application.
The challenges
Instead of creating and leading the deployment of their new product, Guideline requested Icosa Studios to play an advisory role to this contract. Wanting to be independent for the future, Guideline set the pace and timeline for the project while we created the flow, processes, and trained the internal team. From leadership guidance, technology consultations, to the ins-and-outs of releasing a product on the mobile app store; Icosa Studios laid the groundwork for the Guideline developers to build upon and shepherded the Guideline team to a successful product launch.
PHASE
01
Discovery and Solutions Architecture
As a technology and brand consultant, we set interviews and read through the existing codebase to plan and design around the existing team’s skillset. Although there are many ways to create a mobile application, we wanted our recommendations and plans to be achievable and maintainable by the current staff of Guideline. Taking what they have already established, and building the mobile app from there.
API planning and team training
Because this was the team’s first dive into developing for a mobile application, we needed to bridge and fill out mobile-specific requirements. From the programming language conventions, API architecture, iOS and Android differences, and authentication schemes (like biometrics and device-centric sessions), we wanted the transition into mobile app development as easy as possible. We created standards, naming conventions, file systems, to provide a clean codebase right from the start. In addition to the app specific training, we trained the developers on concepts, processes, and how a mobile app functions compared to a website.
PHASE
02
PHASE
03
Design consultation
As an existing web application, the client already had designs ready for the mobile application. Icosa Studios was there to assist, ensuring that branding was consistent across the board and designs were fit for the mobile landscape. We tested and ensured that the app was fit for all types of devices, were responsive to numerous screen resolutions, and used mobile best practices when possible. Although major design changes were not made during this phase, the knowledge and experience we provided in relation to mobile applications led to less push back on design implementations and quicker development cycles.
Development management
During the production phase of the project, Icosa Studios led the day-to-day operations of the development team. We took on communication with stakeholders, adhered to design and branding, configured their API teams, solved roadblocks, and managed schedules large and small. By taking on the leadership responsibilities, we allowed the development team to strengthen their skills, build confidence in their mobile application development, and become self-reliant post product launch.
PHASE
04
PHASE
05
Launch support and post-launch planning
When the app was ready for launch, we developed plans to further growth and documentation for post-launch deployments. These documents included plans for internal launches for employees (dev testing), application testing, marketing pushes, post-launch roadmap for immediate improvements, as well as a backlog to further clean-up the codebase. Once those documents were understood by the team, we assisted Guideline submit their application to the Apple and Google Play stores, remediating any issues along the way.
THE RESULTS
A confident, well-equipped team empowered to maintain and achieve future milestones the Guideline mobile app
Through Icosa Studio’s guidance, Guideline’s development team is able to comfortably maintain the app and achieve growth milestones. With a near one-to-one feature parity to their web app at launch, Guideline’s app was able to achieve over 10k downloads and a 4+ stars on the Apple Store within the first six months of launch.
10k+
App Store DOWNLOADS
App Store rating
4.5 star